For the first time in my memory, the FIFA World Cup was held between November and December. It all started on 20th November 2022 in Qatar with 32 teams from different countries playing a total of 64 games. A total of 172 goals were scored, which was the most number of goals ever scored in a single world cup tournament.
The tournament was a joy to watch, with entertaining play from all countries involved, and plenty of surprise results, including Saudi Arabia beating Argentina, Cameroon beating Brazil and Tunisia beating France. Even more surprising were the underdogs Japan topping a group by beating both Germany and Spain, as well as Morocco going all the way to the semi-finals, becoming the first African country to ever do so, in remarkable fashion.
England had a supremely talented squad of youngsters and played exciting football to watch. Sadly, football did not come home this time as they were knocked out by France in the quarter finals, although they were the better team in the match! But alas, what matters in the end is the final score.
It culminated on 18th December, in one of the most exciting finals between Argentina led by arguably the best player in the world, Lionel Messi, and France, led by the rising phenomenon, Kylian Mbappé. The final was watched by half the population of the world, amounting to roughly 4 billion people! Argentina lifted their 3rd World Cup, beating France, the previous champions, on penalties after a ridiculously action packed 120 minutes of football resulting in a score line of 3-3, with a brace from Messi and a hattrick from Mbappé.
Keeping up with all the matches was difficult as most of the earlier matches took place during the busiest time of my semester when a lot of coursework was due. But fortunately, I was able to watch the latter stages of the tournament, with matches being shown freely in three locations at the University of Surrey. This was at The Bench Sports Bar at the Surrey Sports Park, Hari’s Bar and the club at Rubix, and Wates House in the University of Surrey.
I watched games at Hari’s Bar and The Bench Sports Bar, and it was a completely new experience for me, watching football games with people of the country that were playing in the tournament. It was also quite fun to watch spectators of opposing teams having a good time watching their preferred teams playing against each other. This is an experience that can only be obtained at a culturally diverse location such as the University of Surrey.
The 2026 world cup is scheduled to be played in the North American countries of Canada, Mexico, and USA, with the number of teams competing increasing to 48, which means even more games to watch! I wish the best of luck to the Three Lions, hopefully its going to come home next time!
Cheers,
Shaulan
